Dreaming of Zion
by HarryRules2
Summary: My character Echo frees herself in the Animatrix.  Her story continues through Reloaded and Revolutions.  I'm just borrowing some characters and promise to return them to Zion when I am done.
1. Chapter 1

Dreaming of Zion

My name is Echo, and I think I'm going insane. I don't want to feel this way ever again. I can't take it anymore. The dreams won't stop. Dreams of a city, somewhere underground. I know it's called Zion. I know how I have to get there. If I don't I know I will go insane. Is that what happened to Michael, a.k.a. Kid when he jumped of the roof of our school? I haven't seen him since he committed suicide. That can mean only 2 things. One, that he's dead, or two, that he somehow escaped the Matrix. If he did escape, I don't know how. Neo told me once you can only escape by taking the red pill. He also told me if you're killed in the Matrix, you die here, like Kid. Maybe that will work with me. I've been to Kid's funeral, but I don't think he's dead. I think he's free. I saw Neo afterwards, but he didn't tell me anything, but then again I didn't ask. I wish I could talk to Kid and ask him how. I don't know why I want to talk to him suddenly. It's not like we were the best of friends. I would talk to him at school, but nothing beyond saying "Hi." We didn't even have any of the same classes together. He was only 16. I'm 17 and everyone calls me Sierra. I hate that name. There's nothing I can do about that until I free my mind. I think I know how, but I'm afraid to do it. I have to do something, though. If I don't I know I will kill myself. At this point, anything is better than being here, and who knows maybe shooting myself in the head will wake me up.

I have to go. If I don't I'll be late for school. I don't see the point in going, considering I'm failing, and that Kid's not there, but I don't have a choice. After school, I have to get what I need to free myself. If all goes well, I'll wake up. If it doesn't I'll die. But the truth is, I'd rather die than live this way. Wish me luck, Kid.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm on my way home from school. I stopped by home to get what I need to end this, my father's gun. I don't know where the key is, but that doesn't matter. One of my talents is picking locks. I don't know if it will come in hand if I ever get out of here, but I don't really care. I'm going to stop by the cemetery to say goodbye to Kid. Then I'll put the gun to my head and pull the trigger. If this works, I'll be free. If it doesn't work, then I'll be dead. Right now, being dead is better than a life in hell.

I'm at the cemetery now, kneeling in front of Kid's grave. I only have one bullet. Now I just have to get up the courage to actually do this. I put the gun to my head, and was about the pull the trigger when I heard Trinity ask me if I'd been to any good funerals lately. I stood up and turned to face her and said that I had. Kid killed himself only a week ago. Trinity told me the funeral wasn't real, at least not for me. I know it wasn't real. Nothing is real in the Matrix. Trinity told me that it was all a dream. The Agents had gotten to me and that I had been bugged, just like Neo, and I couldn't be allowed to leave the Matrix like that. I asked what needed to be done. The next thing I know, Trinity had put this thing, I don't even know what it was to my ear, and ripped something right out. It hurt like hell, but I didn't even have time scream. Then she pulled out her gun and shot it.

Trinity told me to say goodbye to Kid, because it was time to see Morpheus.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm standing outside the cemetery with Trinity. It's nighttime. I had to sneak out of the house just to get here. We're waiting for Neo and Morpheus. They better show up soon. I'm feeling very unstable and I have a gun. I still may end up doing something stupid, like killing myself. If I do, then at least I may end up with Kid. God, what's my obsession with him all of a sudden? We're not even the same age. I'm 17, he's only 16. It's not like I liked him or anything, but now that he's gone, all I can think about, besides getting out of this hell, is him.

I asked Trinity what it's like. She asked, "What Zion is like?" I replied, "Yes, what is it like to be free?" She said it's amazing. It's beautiful and warm. There's heat, light, food, and water. I wonder if there's strawberries in Zion. I like strawberries. At least I think I do. I wanted to ask her if Kid is there, but I'm scared of what the answer might be, that the answer is no, and he truly is dead.

I asked if you can make your own choices in Zion. Trinity said "Of course you can, Echo." That's the first time she used my name, at least my real name. Neo calls me that all the time. So did Kid. I don't think Kid even knows my Matrix name, Sierra Matthews. He did know I have long dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. I knew his, Michael Karl Popper, but then I didn't even know that until his funeral, but that wasn't even real. I do know that Kid has brown hair and brown eyes. I told Trinity once I'm in Zion, I think I'll start making my own decisions. Trinity said I already had. I asked, "I have?" She said, "You made your own decision when you decided you wanted to be free." That's true, I guess.

I wonder if once you are out of the Matrix, if you have the choice to never jack in again. If I had the choice, I would never want to. I want to join a crew. I'm 17, and according to Neo, I'm old enough but I'd never want to go back to the Matrix again. Trinity once told me that the Nebuchadnezzar only has four crew members, Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and a man named Link. I asked what happened to the other crew members. Trinity said they died, and that's all she'll tell me.

I'm beginning to get worried. How long does it take to get to a cemetery? If they don't get here soon, I think I may shoot myself. I should give Trinity the gun. I hope my father doesn't know it's gone. If he does, he may kill me. Not that I would complain. Being dead is better than being here.

I'm so tired. I haven't slept in a week, not since Kid died. I need to sit. There's a bench in the cemetery that's actually comfortable. Trinity came with, probably so I won't do something stupid. I can't say I blame her for not trusting me. I don't really trust myself or anybody else, either, except for those who've been unplugged. I think my mother has. How else can I explain why she disappears for a while and then comes back. The longest she was gone was for a month.

Trinity has decided to call Neo. She's worried too. Neo may be One, but he can still get in trouble, not that he can't get out of it, but he can still die. Trinity told me Neo died once after being shot by Agents. She told me that the Oracle, whom everyone eventually sees, told her she'd fall in love and that man would would be the One. She kissed Neo and then he came back to life. Talk about a kiss of life.

Trinity just got off the phone. Neo and Morpheus are on the way. They had to head to Zion, just so they jack in to get me out. It's getting hard to find a safe place to get here. I wonder why. I know about the Sentinels. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

I asked Trin more about Zion and if I could have my own room. She said I can if I want, or I could be with my mom. I had no idea my mom lived in Zion, who that's where she want when she disappears. If she knew about the Matrix for a long time, when I wonder why she just didn't live permantly. Maybe because she wanted to see me get free first.

It's time for me to go. Neo and Morpheus just got here. Nice car, I must say. I don't know why I care about that since I have bigger fish to fry. Neo opened the door and Trin got in the back seat first and I did after her. I didn't notice until now that we're all wearing black. I'm wearing my black sweater, black jeans and my black boots, and black leather jacket. I wonder if that's a rule or something. I keep staring at the floor of the car, torn somewhere between crying and throwing up. I should be happy but I'm not. I'm scared to death. I'm scared even if I take the red pill, it won't work. I'm afraid my mind will reject being freed, and I'll have to come back here.

I gave the gun to Neo, simply because I don't want it anymore. It's started to rain. Neo said it was raining the night he was freed. I barely heard him because I keep staring out the front window looking at all the things I know aren't real. My school, the library, this Chinese place I ate at all the time.

We're here, some building I guess that everyone goes to when it's time get free. I have to see how things go. Hopefully, when you hear from me next, I'll be in Zion.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm walking up the stairs of a building. Neo says it's a hotel. It's where everyone goes to be freed. Neo, Trinity, my mom, everyone. We've reached the room where Morpheus is waiting. This is it I know there's no turning back.

Trinity told me to take a breath and asked, "Are you ready?" I said, "I've been ready my entire life." She opened the door. I saw Morpheus sitting in a chair, and right next to him, my mom. Morpheus beckoned me to sit down across from him, in a red leather chair exactly like his. I did, Trinity, Neo and my mom left the room, and Morpheus began to speak. I wish I could have looked in his eyes, but Morpheus was wearing sunglasses.

He said, "Echo, we both know why you are here. You are trapped in a prison for your mind. You have a choice to be free, or to remain captive." From his inside coat pocket he pulled a small silver case and opened it. In his left hand, he put a blue pill. In his right, he put a red pill.

Morpheus said, "You have one choice, after you make it there's no going back. You take the blue pill, you go back to sleep and do whatever the Matrix tells you. You take the red pill, you wake up and learn the truth. All I'm offering is a choice and the truth, nothing more."

I reached for the red pill, and took the glass of water on the table to my right, and swallowed it. Morpheus smiled, and said "Come with me." We went into the next room. Trinity, Neo, and my mom were there. It occurred to me a crew member was missing. I know there's 4, but I only saw 3, Trinity, Neo, and Morpheus. My mom isn't a member of a crew, as far as I know. Maybe she is. I asked, "Trinity, where's Link?" My mom looked at me and asked, "How do you know about Link?" Trinity said, "I told her about him, Psyche." I looked at Trin and asked, "Who's Psyche?" My mom said, "I am Echo, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was freed when you were 14. I was 34. and I've been fighting for your and other people's freedom ever since."

Neo told me to lay back in a chair. Trinity hooked up all these things to me, one to my arm, and one to my neck. I closed my eyes, I don't want to see anything else here. I want to the first thing that I see to be real.

Morpheus told me the pill interrupts my input/output carrier signal and finds me in the Matrix. I can't explain what happened next. I felt like I was asleep. Then the next thing I new I was awake. I was in a pod surrounded by pink. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't even do that, because there was something in my throat. I broke free, pulled the thing out of my throat and let out something between a breath and a scream. It was my first real breath and my first real scream.

The next thing I know, a machine that I'm sure was a Sentinel, came up to me. It grabbed me and I'm convinced it just looked at me, maybe even took a picture of me. After it did, I had just enough time to look all around me and see countless other people asleep. I reached to the back of head and felt a cable. I then realized there were cables in my arms, back, and chest. Before I had time to finish my thought, they call came off, and it hurt like hell.

I went sliding out of my pod, down a long tube, and into freezing cold water. I couldn't swim. My arms and legs wouldn't work. Just as thought I was going to drown, I saw a bright light and a gigantic claw came towards me. It picked me up and took me on board a ship. I was covered with a blanket, Neo picked me up. The last thing I saw was Psyche smiling at me. After that I knew no more.


End file.
